Faculty Of Science And Health| University of Portsmouth

Faculty of Science and Health

Explore the research and teaching activities that take place across the schools and departments in our Faculty of Science and Health

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The Faculty of Science and Health is the University's largest faculty, and offers courses in environmental, health, and life sciences. We support these courses by offering an excellent research and innovation base and with our professional and clinical practice.

We work in strategic partnership with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHT), which aims to make both the Trust and the University centres of excellence for collaborative education, training and innovation.

By supporting new capacity, projects and infrastructure, the partnership will also enable us to deliver excellent research that's relevant to local people – with a particular focus on the development and application of new healthcare technologies.

We also work in partnership with many other businesses and organisations – from Adidas to the Ministry of Defence – and our graduates have gone on to pursue successful careers across many industries.

Academics, clinicians and practitioners work together to provide a rich learning experience for our students. Our courses reflect this by allowing our students to learn through a variety of methods – mixing practical, research and theoretical content alongside direct experiences, such as work placements, experimentation or simulations.

Our students also enjoy a shared working and learning environment that reflects the workplaces they will encounter when they graduate. Students participate in our innovation and research work, and build networks through these experiences.

More than 75% of our research is world leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2021) with 90% of our Impact Case Studies rated as outstanding or very considerable in terms of their reach and significance. This includes research developing environmental management tools to help the Ukraine better manage the Chernobyl exclusion zone, research that has transformed military and intelligence interrogation practice across security and counter-terrorism agencies, research improving detection rates of oesophageal cancer and water safety research that has informed international and UK policies, changed behaviour and practice, and saved lives.

Explore our faculty

Teaching

Explore the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees we offer within the following areas.

Biological Sciences

Biological science model on display in a lab

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Earth sciences

Student and tutor examining rocks on coast

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Geography and environmental science

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Healthcare and social care

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Psychology

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Sport science

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Research

Explore the work we're doing across the 8 research areas that sit within the Faculty of Science and Health.

Biological Sciences

We're exploring how life on Earth has evolved over time, the huge ecological consequences of human activity, and the growing threat posed by antibiotic resistance.

Dental and Oral Health

Our Dental and Oral Health research contributes to the development of evidence-based health care for patients and the wider community, and towards the high-quality education of the dental team.

Dental professionals working in a dental surgery

Earth and Environmental Sciences

With the future of our planet under threat from environmental crises such as climate change, we're examining our planet and the evolution of life – and using our findings to protect it.

Health and Social Care

Our research deals with the most-pressing health and wellbeing issues facing society – from the challenges of caring for an ageing population, to the importance of delivering effective health and social care to the most under-represented, vulnerable or isolated groups in society.

Pharmacy, Pharmacology and Biomedical Sciences

We're growing our understanding of how the body functions in health, how it malfunctions in disease, and the genetic and molecular drivers of physical and mental illnesses to find new, more effective treatments for patients.

Male student studying in a lab at a microscope

Physical and Human Geography

We're exploring the causes and effects of social and environmental crises – from worsening inequality and political disharmony, to pollution and climate change – and searching for new ways to tackle these global challenges.

Road leading away from viewer in Monument Valley

Psychology

We're exploring topics from child development of social skills and eye witness testimony, to the evolution of primate facial expressions and the factors affecting drug use.

Sport and Exercise Science

We're focused on enhancing human performance and health – from helping elite sports men and women to win Olympic medals, to developing safety guidelines for sporting bodies, and improving the quality of life of individuals living with chronic disease.

Our research centres

Much of our exceptional research takes place within the following cross-disciplinary research centres – find out more below.

Centre for Enzyme Innovation

At the Centre for Enzyme Innovation, we're researching solutions to some of the most pressing global environmental problems. Learning from the natural world, we are working to deliver transformative enzyme-enabled solutions for the circular recycling of plastics.

Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences

We're exploring disciplinary boundaries to discover, understand and develop knowledge for the benefit of the environment and humankind.

Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology

In the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, we're exploring evolutionary processes and comparing humans with other animals, to study the origins of behaviour.

International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology

The ICRFP has an established international reputation for conducting a broad range of criminological and forensic psychology research.

Centre for Interaction, Development and Diversity

In the Centre for Interaction, Development and Diversity, we study psychological phenomena in relation to the contexts and situations in which they emerge.